Incubator temperature fluctuation?

[Kwaynebb]

I am having issues with my DIY incubator. My temperatures are moving from 83.8 to 87.4, and the time it takes for change is about 15 minutes. That is starting at the high temp, falling, and then back to high, so about 7 minutes each direction.

My question is, will this change in temperature affect the incubating eggs?

I do not have any eggs at the moment but I believe it will be any day now. Sunday will be 3 weeks and both females have began to randomly dig holes in their hides.

I am just going for the wild card on sex, so I have my thermostat set on 84, and I will try to post some pictures of the incubator tomorrow in hopes that y'all may be able to help.

 

[TranceZ]

What are you using for a thermostat and are you using flexwatt?

 

[Kwaynebb]

I have a my Hydrofarm hooked up to it. I have been using that on a rack for months and it has always held to one degree + or -

I have a 2' piece of 11" flexwatt taped to the back.

I also have two computer fans with one mounted on the floor and one on the adjacent side on the celing. I am working with the fans on a programable digital timer trying to get them to cycle at the right times. They do help slow the temperature drop, and assist in raising a little faster. I know this because I have been sitting here for 2hours with a freaking stopwatch.

This is a 2.7cf mini fridge by the way.

 

[TranceZ]

Hydrofarm is a on/off thermostat. Which means that it powers your heat source at full power until it reaches its desired temp then it turns off. I highly doubt you were getting 1 +/- temp consistency because my friend has the same exact thermostat and he was getting like 10 +/- temp fluctuations from the day he bought it. The reason it's impossible for it to be 1 +/- consistency is because when it gets to desired setting (say 91*) it will power off until it drops 3* then it powers up full blast. There's also a lag between shutting off too then when it actually cools off. So instead of going to 91* it might go up to 95* then start to drop in temp. This is why you're experiencing flucs in temps.

It's not a crappy thermostat in any means it does what it's exactly suppose to do...and it was designed for heat mats for plants not that it can't be used for reptiles....but I would NOT use this for incubators! I'd rather use a dimmer switch or the thermostat hovabators come with before I would use a on/off thermostat for cooking eggs.

I suggest getting a Herpstat for your DIY incubator. They are insanely accurate and come with some cool features. This is what I use for all my racks and I couldn't be more happy! Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[pbgeckos]

That should be plenty flexwatt for a minifridge. I would also advise looking into a better thermostat. Proportional thermostats are the most accurate and a little easier on the heat tape. I've read some pretty negative things about combining an on/off thermostat with flexwatt.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Remember, opening and closing the unit too frequently will cause temperature fluctuations, too.

 

[Kwaynebb]

I have had fluctuation problems before but I remedied that with an electric heater that ran on a thermostat but it has not ran for a while now. I thought maybe the thermostat had just worked itself into a regular cycle but my common sence now tails me that my room is staying around 85 degrees due to the warmer weather.

I do not open the incubator at all considering I have no eggs at the moment I am merely testing.

I have a friend that is going to lend me his Herpstat so I can get this problem cured. Meanwhile I am trying to convince my wife that I need to spend the $100+ on a new thermostat, but she does not really see why I can't "bargain" shop.

I do appreciate all of the info thus far, but my original question is still hanging out there. Is this temperature fluctuation from 83-87 going to hurt the development of the eggs? I am looking for the mix ratio so I think that I am in range I just want to make sure that I am not going to end up with a mess of bad eggs when this is over.

 

[TranceZ]

I wouldn't say you'll have bad eggs from a 4* +/- fluctuation. I mean my incubator is like 2-3* +/- fluctuation and I never have problems with bad eggs or deformed geckos. I did have one female with a slight tail kink though which I think was related to a power outage for a night and temps dropped to 78* for 8 hours.

You don't have to run out and drop $100+ on a herpstat right away. Go to home depot and get a dimmer switch (The ones that slide up and down) and use that in the mean time. I guarantee that will work a lot better then the on/off thermostat in keeping your temps more balanced.